I've been in my class for 15 years and in those years two kids in particular stand out in my mind.*One little boy (very sweet story) was about 6-7 and I was one of the assistant instructors. He would insist on sitting next to me when the head instructor told everyone to have a seat in the back. He would just stare at me with admiring eyes and say,"Miss Harbaugh." "Yes?" "You look very pretty today." (I'm just in my uniform sweating a little) "Thank you." "Miss Harbaugh". "Yes?" "I like your hair like that." (it was just thrown in a pony tail with fly aways galore)"Thank you." It went on for months. I thought it was so sweet. Sorry to see him go.

*Child from hell. I had one student in my class that knew everything before it was taught to him. He would pick his nose and wipe his finger on his gi while I was talking to him. He would also scratch, burp and fart with no regard to others standing in front of him. Oh and he would also smell his arm pits periodically during class and no he didn't wear deodorant. I'm sure he had some issues. He was so bad the instructors would play rock, paper, scissors to see who would teach him that day. Not sorry he's gone!

*My personal favorites are the ones who start sparring for the first time and don't want to be paired up with me because I'm a female and they don't think that they would be able to learn anything from sparring a girl.(I'm about 5'6" and 130lbs) My instructor just looks at them and smiles. After I spar them they usually have a different out look on sparring "just a girl"

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"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."- Ronald Reagan

I was teaching a class on sparring to help some students get ready for a big tournament and I was working with one of our female brown belts. We started and she would only throw a roundhouse kick or try to just step in and punch. Well when she would do this I would side kick her just above her belt. After I did this to her three or four times she got frustrated so I gave her some advice. Well that didn’t take because she kept doing the same thing. Then I told her that if she kept doing that I was going to keep kicking her. Well she stepped in and I side kicked her and I said “like that” then she did it again and I said the same thing. Well she kept doing the same thing, so I just started counting each time I side kicked her. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Then I got tired of that and we ended our match up so I could move on to someone else. She never did get it.

I generally don't get easily annoyed by people - or atleast I used not to get. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.

Anyway, there was this one guy who knew it all before he started. He even knew things better than our sensei. One example that clings particularly well to my memory:

Guy (talking to sensei): "So, does anyone here use a shirasaya katana?" Then he adds to it with a really arrogant style (Because, after all, he (atleast in his own opinion) knew lots of things nobody else knew): "That is, the straight stick sword".

I get a huge urge to point out to him that he is mindbogglingly wrong, but decide to keep my mouth shut and see what our sensei says.

The sensei looks down while continuing to fold his hakama, smiling a bit. After half a minute or so of continuing his folding, he looks patiently up and explains politely that the shirasaya is the storage sheath of the blade, and not a type of sword.

And so, the guy switches to the next topic he thinks he knows better than anyone else.. And this would keep going on forever. I think people like this learned what they know from a mail order catalogue or something and are trying to constantly impress with their superior knowledge. REALLY annoying.

currently im a brown belt in karate but i have a few fellow student that could possibly be the worst.

he is a higher ranked brown belt. everytime he comes to class he always fake strikes a vital organ and says, "boom, i broke your neck" or something similar. also, at one point he told another brown belt that he had placed hidden cameras throughout his house and was spying on him. he is also the type that is very concerned with being the best and beating people during sparring. he always leeches off of others, drinking their drinks, eating their food, 'borrowing' money, never offering anything in return. he also has to know about everything that anyone else talks about and gets mad if we do not tell him. on top of that he responds harshly to criticism.

other than that, theres probably around 20 more things wrong with him that i can think of, but he works hard (not smart), has decent physical ability, and is loyal to our GM.

I'm only a beginner, yellow belt. So second belt up. Anywys... there are people who have been there longer than me by far, older than me, stronger than me, that just don't seem to get it. One guy has the mind of a child. Me and him were practicing one steps, I showed him the right way, and I knew it was right or else sifu wouldn't have told me to teach him. And he goes and says, "but it should look something like this". He then proceeds to show me some ridiculous thing where he twists his whole body to the point of almost losing balance. From there hr tried to finish the block. Just really bad form. I don't get how he can take a martial art for a year or so and just have no form, no power, no anything.

Another guy, I was belt testing. One move in the one step requires you to block a roundhouse kick to the head. I was preparing to block and lo and behold... he kicked me in the nutes. Thankfully, it wasn't a very hard kick.

Hey loving this thread by the way and also loving the forum. Woo FA.com!1st post

Yeah so first impressions out of the way im a 5th kyu in Karate and my dojo has a varied selection of students....One guy is terrible just took his 5th kyu an "passed" he is banned from grading for 6 months but recieved the belt anyway.

He complains about the standards of teaching constantly and cant accept the fact hes just a natural reject...anyhoo i was sparring against him and he flies forward guard down with no control, so i thanked him for the opportunity and landed a solid jab to the head! He picks himself up and proceeds to do a jump front kick, he flies forwards an lands on his face...apparently he "got me" with his extended hand i let brush my leg because i was too shocked to block it. He picks himself up again and does a round kick which i catch and he hits the deck for a third and final time.

Good news is hes decided to quit one less fool to bother me and seeing as a good friend of mine has decided to join the club it seems to be looking good socially in my dojo

Ted - good to finally be a part of this

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Theres a fine line between genius and insanity....

Many years ago, I took Tae Kwon Do, and I was starting to get bored from the school *. So one day during the exercise portion of the class, instead of doing jumping jacks, I did a "jack". I didn't do the leg part at all, and needless to say, the Sah Bum Nim wasn't at all pleased :P I slacked off a lot during the ass end of my Tae Kwon Do experiences (if you're out there reading this, realizing who I am, I'm sorry, sah bum nim!).

* (IMO, the head instructor was very talented and respectable, but his dojang was getting a bit too commercial for my tastes; nothing wrong with that if you're into that sort of thing, it's just my personal preference)

Right, new student to add. I help train the white belts in basic throws, anyway I was showing a guy how to do defense against a two handed grab (remove arm, step in, throw) and when I had finished demonstrating I grabbed him. Instead of doing said actions he gave me a massive haymaker in the face and gave me a blood nose...WTF????!!

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"They say the only way to kill a lion is with a rear naked choke, but I'd just kick it in the head"

As the entire class was going down the floor doing front punches in a front stance, the skill is rather basic...for most people. Bronstein, on the other hand, never mastered that coordinated technique.

As I call ONE, the entire class moves forward as a unit and punches with a resounding yell. Bronstein is still figuring out the step part. Now that he has moved one foot in front of the other, the punch part commences.

"OK, right foot, right hand. No, the other right hand. Now, punching hand turns palm down and the hand by your side turns palm up." I move the punching hand into place for him. "Now make the other hand palm up. NO, NO keep the punching hand palm down like this. Good, but keep the other hand palm up." Both hands turn. ARRRGH! I grab both hands and move them into place. "Now STAY like that for just a second." The rest of the room has waited paitently, holding the stance, sweating, with arms getting heavy as the minutes tick by during the time it took to get Bronstein's first step sorted out.

Oh my, "Ready, TWO!" And we start the confusion of which hand is out, palm up, palm down all over again. "No, no, the other..."

Poor Bronstein only lasted a month or so in the class but his memory lives on. Whenever a new student was having a tough time sorting out the basics of a skill, I would tell them about Bronstein and how well they are doing by comparison.

Thereafter, if someone was having a really bad day, it became, "Someone is having a Bronstein day!"